“Quinton will be back out here today with us. His wife was released from the hospital, so he’ll be out here today. She’s doing better. It’s good to have him back out with us. Perry is not here with us today. Other than that, everybody else is out there. We’ve got a couple of guys that have some nicks and things along those lines, but other than that, we’re in pretty good shape.”

On Jacquille Veii’s play at Tuesday’s practice:

“I thought Jacquille had a good day yesterday. It is kind of what I expected out of him. Having the opportunity to watch him and do the things that he can do, those were the things that myself and the coaching staff thought he would do and that’s part of the reason that we made the move that we did with him.”

On the competition between Jeremiah Johnson and Alvin Hill:

“Just guys that are competing very hard. With the schemes that we play, they’re both going to play. We’ll see how it continues to play out through the rest of preseason camp, but both of them are really competing. J.J. is not showing any signs of issues right now with the leg. We hope that continues. He’s a guy that’s got experience. He knows how to play. He’s a leader. Alvin is just getting better all the time We’ve just got to get him to be a better tackler overall. I’m really pleased with how both of those guys are competing and working.”

On the kick and punt returner positions:

“I think there are going to be other things that come into play there. I know we have Stefon [Diggs] who has demonstrated that he can be outstanding in that area. Will [Likely] has demonstrated that he can be very good and I think Taivon [Jacobs] can be very good. I would probably say right now that with punt return that either Stefon or Will would be the guy in that area. I think from a return standpoint, you can throw Taivon into that mix as a kickoff returner along with Stefon and Will. We’ll see how it all plays out, but the good thing is that we have some really good options there to deal with guys that can take the ball the distance in both phases.”

On Brandon Ross’ development:

“He’s been out here doing everything, hasn’t missed anything. I hope that continues. Like anything else, the older you get, the more mature you become, the better you handle situations and the better you deal with things. I think that’s been the biggest case with Brandon. Now he’s been in the system three years and he really gets it. He really understands it. He’s more comfortable with the playbook, all those things. Sometimes it takes some time. I wish we could go back to the rule when all the freshmen were ineligible to play because I think just the transition from high school to college, and not only for football but academically, socially maturity and all those things. He’s really come a long way and I’m very proud of how far he’s come.”

On the offense at Tuesday’s practice:

“I thought they had probably their best night or best practice that we’ve had so far. Again, it’s one of those things of everything coming together. We’ve still got a lot of work to do, there’s no doubt about that. Now they’ll build on that today and we’ll have a good day today and keep getting one percent better each and every day. If we can do that, we’ll start to get to where we want to be by August 30.”

On Damian Prince’s move to guard:

“I told him this morning that I thought he had a pretty good day. It’s not perfect and it’s not going to be perfect, but you saw a guy who almost looked like he felt a little bit more comfortable with that position. I think he’ll be better today. He’s a very coachable young man. He takes corrections very well and he wants to do well. I’m pleased with what I saw for the first day and now what he’s got to do today is work hard to get better and work on those things that Coach Stud [Studrawa] told him that he needs to work on.”

On if Spencer Myers’ play has surprised him:

“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised because the young man has played football in high school, and I know it’s different, but having the competitiveness that he has and seen what he’s done as a wrestler, I think those things carryover to the football field. You can see as he’s out here each and every day, he’s getting better. The thing that Spencer gives you is that he’s just relentless. He’s going to just keep attacking you and getting after you. What’s going to happen with him is that every practice he’s out here and every rep he gets he’s going to get better because he’s going to get back into the swing of things with the technique and doing the things you’re supposed to do and understanding everything. I’m very pleased with him so far and I know he’s just going to get better. It wasn’t good that Quinton wasn’t here but it allowed more repetitions for him, which he needs. He had the opportunity to do something and he showed us. Now he’s earned the right to get more repetitions.”

On if the receivers responded to his comments at media day:

“I just said what I thought was the truth. If they heard it, I would hope that they would do that because they’re young men who want to do well. Every day is a new day and every practice is a new practice. We’ll see.”

On how many true freshmen he thinks will contribute this season:

“I’ll have a better feel once we get through the scrimmage on Saturday and even next Wednesday when we scrimmage. I still want things to play out. Guys still have the opportunity to show what they can do here to see if maybe somebody can develop into a backup that’s got a legitimate shot to get on the field and then a lot will depend on what they can contribute from a special teams standpoint. I’d rather wait until we get through this scrimmage and then maybe not until we get through the next one on Wednesday.”

On Matt Gillespie:

“He’s doing a good job. He’s out there competing and doing a good job. Again, just another one of those freshman who’s out here learning each and every day and taking all in and trying to get better.”

On Malik Jones;

“I think Malik has done a good job. The one thing I’m pleased with with Malik is kind of twofold. One he’s put on quite a bit of weight since he’s gotten here. He’s stronger and you can see how much he’s grown and developed and picked things up. He’s not anywhere near where he’s going to be. If he continues to work and he continues to be coachable and continues to study and prepare the proper way, he’s got a chance to be a really good defensive end for us. I like his mindset and I like his focus for us. He’s just young and that’s what we do. When we recruited him, we knew he’d be a guy that developed. We saw a guy with work ethic and had the size to him and he’d been able to put on the weight. So far he hasn’t disappointed. Where that ends up for him this year we’ll see. He’s doing all the things that you should be doing to put himself in the hunt to earn playing time.”

On the music at practice:

“You’ll see it every day. You do research as a coach and there are things that you want to do. It helps us because of this new system that we purchased just will help us from a practice standpoint when the horns blow and then we want to get started. Plus we wanted to make sure, as I told the kids, with the music it’s just something you can set the kind of music with the type of periods you want where it’s up-tempo. The only thing I said is that there has got to be some country music because if not, we’re not going to this system. When we do special teams, there is country music and that’s the head coach’s special deal. The kids liked it. It helps because we are going to play in front of crowds where there is crowd noise. I think it also helps the focus and the attention and the things you have to do to make them in this day and age to get them going a little bit. It’s not my playlist. If it was my playlist it would probably all be country music and everything else. I’m smart enough to stay away from that. I’ll take advantage of the head coach’s prerogative, but I’m not selecting the playlist. The kids like it. If they don’t like it, I’m sure they’ll say, Coach we’ve got to change some of those songs.

Comments Off on Edsall impressed by Veii in first days after move to receiver

“There were a couple of position changes that we made. We took Jacquille Veii and moved him into the slot. We took Damian [Prince] and put him in at guard. Again, things that we think can help us as guys continue to work at practice. Really those were the only to position moves that we made. We moved Stefon [Diggs] outside as well, but again, our receivers can pretty much play different positions. Those are things we felt could help us.”

On the freshmen offensive linemen:

“What everybody has to understand is that these young guys, Damian [Prince], Brandon Moore and Derwin Gray, they are young men that have a lot of ability, but it’s a process for them to go through in terms of the technique. We’ve got to get them to learn to get their hands inside. They want to go and take them and bear hug people so we’re working on them. Damian has great size and good strength. The more reps he gets the better he’ll become in getting the playbook down. Right now, Brandon is probably playing the fastest of those three. For the freshmen, it’s about them understanding the playbook. It’s hard because of how much is thrown at them. It’s not that anybody’s disappointed in them. We understand as coaches that it’s a process. We’re not disappointed. Most of the freshmen should get redshirted anyhow, unless they show something that they are so outstanding. If we get our program where we want it, it’s going to be very hard for freshmen to come in and play truthfully.”

On why he moved Damian Prince to guard:

“We’re going to put him at guard because we’ve got a need at guard. That was one of the reasons we put him in there. We feel that with the four tackles we have we feel pretty solid. Right now he was really the fifth tackle. Now you put him inside at guard and he’s a backup in there at left guard. For him to be able to get on the bus and help us, it’s going to be better at guard. Probably in the long run he’s more suited to be a guard than a tackle. He does have a skillset where he could be possibly a right tackle more than a left tackle, but for us and for where we are and for what we want to accomplish we feel guard is the best spot for him.”

On why he moved Jacquille Veii to wide receiver:

“One thing is he’s a guy that is a dynamic guy for us. You can’t play four tailbacks. You just can’t do it. Putting him out there I think that helps us. It helps the wide receiver room. It gives us a guy that has a lot of energy and a lot of enthusiasm and can block. It enhances us from an offensive standpoint that we put him there. One of the things he’s demonstrated through practice and his hard work is that he deserves an opportunity to be out on the field helping our team win in whichever way he can. He was excited about the move and it’s something we think it going to benefit us quite a bit.”

On Jacquille Veii’s transition to wide receiver:

“I don’t think it will take him too long. He was in here late last night, well, not late but until bed check. He was in here today after the morning session watching film. Some of the things he’s doing there he did as a running back because we did some things with the running backs at that position. It won’t take him long. I’m not worried about that with him. I think you’ll see tonight probably that he’ll be out there doing things. He’ll be fine.”

On Quinton Jefferson’s situation:

“I just got some information right before I came out here, but I haven’t had a chance to talk to Quinton. I think things are positive, but I don’t really want to say too much until I get an opportunity to speak to him.”

On Perry Hills’ absence:

“Perry Hills won’t be here for a couple days. He had to go home because his grandmother passed away. He left last night.”

On Evan Mulrooney:

“Evan is back. He’s with us now. No [he won’t practice]. That’s not going to happen. He’s got some medical conditions that he’ll have to take care of within the next two weeks to get some more tests done and he’ll do those things once they take a look at those tests and everything else, we’ll go from there. Next week he’s got some tests he’s got to do and then a week after that he’s got some more so it’s two weeks right now before the tests will be done to see where he is and where we go from here.”

On the running back competition:

“I’m looking for the guy that is the most complete guy. You see things with Brandon [Ross] that he can catch the ball, he can run the ball, he can block. I’m seeing much more consistency out of him. Thank goodness he hasn’t missed anything. One of his issues had been he had had a little bit of the injury bug that’s kind of slowed him down a little bit, but I haven’t seen any of that. I see a guy that has really caught hold of the system and is preparing well. He’s out here being productive.”

On L.A Goree

“L.A., it’s interesting. We were in the coaches meeting and talking and I see him doing his job, but he’s kind of going unnoticed a little bit. I think he’s got that mentality hey, I’m going out there and I’m going to do my job and do it to the best of my abilities and lead by example. That’s really what he’s doing. He’s playing physical and right now he’s had a couple of nagging things with him, but he hasn’t had any of that. He’s playing with confidence and playing with enthusiasm and being productive.”

On what he saw in morning practice:

“That it rained like crazy. I still think I’m waterlogged a little bit. We almost had to get the paddleboats out. I haven’t practiced in any weather like that kind of rain. That’s our wet ball day that we had. Hopefully we won’t have any more days like that, but the kids were very focused and fought through it. Brad Craddock had a great morning. He was perfect on all of them. He was 5-for-5 with a 51 yarder. Adam [Greene] was 4-for-4 and missed a 51 yarder. I thought the concentration was good throughout the practice and guys didn’t really let that bother them. It was hard to throw the ball because of how much rain was coming down, but we had some center quarterback exchanges, but we have to get used to that so when we play in it, we can handle it. At least now guys will have some recall when we play in it in terms of the gloves and those sort of things to combat those elements.”

On position battles:

“There are not that many positions that really we’re looking for. Tight end has kind of separated itself. Running back has kind of separated itself. Andrew [Isaacs] is the No. 1 guy and P.J. [Gallo] and Derrick [Hayward] fighting there for the two’s. What’s happening now is you going to see some guys that might be two’s that could overtake somebody who’s a one based on what they’re doing in practice or maybe what somebody else isn’t doing.”

On Andrew Isaac’s development:

“I just wish he was a redshirt freshman. I wish we could have redshirted him last year, but we didn’t have the opportunity to do that. That’s what we’ve got to remember. He got an injury coming out of high school and got in last year and you can start to see it. He’s a worker. He’s a guy that really works hard. You can see it in his body. He’s out there playing with more confidence now and he’s a student of the game. We like what we’ve seen so far and we just want him to keep improving. That’s another guy you don’t have to worry about. He’s self-motivated and is going to do the things necessary to be as good has he needs to be.”

“He’s probably moving a little bit better. I think he’s sculpted himself a little bit more. I think he’s about 247 pounds after this morning’s practice. He was up to 255 or something. He’s moving good and doing all the things that you’d like him to do.”

On what he likes from practice so far:

“I like the attitude. I like the way these guys are competing with each other. I like the way our defense is flying around and communicating really well. Offensively, you can really start to see it coming into shape now as we cut back now in the installation and we go over things. Even though it was wet, I thought we did some better things. I’m very pleased with where we are from a field goal standpoint. We’ve just got to get better each day. We had Jon Gordon in here and one of the things he told the guys was just get one percent better every day you go out there. If they can do that and we can keep that mindset, then we’ll be where we want to be August 30.”

On what the offense has done better:

“Just from a crispness standpoint and guys doing what they’re supposed to do. We didn’t have as many penalties in the scrimmage that we did. It’s guys just getting back in the swing of things and just getting into the playbook and knowing more what you’re doing and getting more confident with what you’re doing. It’s those little things that you see. Hopefully, you’re not going to see a lot of big plays because of what we’re doing defensively. We’ve still got to better defensively and make sure we maintain our gaps and hit the right our gaps. We’ve gotten better from a technique standpoint, but we’ve still got a lot of work to do there so it becomes habit. That’s the one thing that we’re going to constantly harp on and coach up.”